China trip

We had a tremendously invigorating time in China from January 31st to February 4th, when we flew back to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
What a difference in temperature from Cebu, Philippines.  Our flight took us from Cebu to Manila, then Manila to Beijing.  We arrived on January 31st and were picked up at the airport by private car and driven to our hotel.  We stayed at the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel near the main train station in Beijing.  It was a beautiful 4 star hotel that I would recommend to anyone who wished to stay in Beijing.  We had earlier booked a tour that included hotel, 4 days of tours, transportation by car or small van to shows, (acrobats and Kung Fu) a visit to the Pandas at the Zoo, sightseeing trip to the Great Wall of China at Badaling (about 50 miles from Beijing) and visits to The Forbidden City, the Llama Temple, The Ming Tombs, a silk factory making silk duvets and pillows and clothing, a jade factory, a porcelain factory, a rickshaw ride in a hutong-with a cooked lunch in a typical Chinese home, etc.
It was go, go, go for five days and we still could have seen more.  Here are some photos, no particular order is indicated

Mave freezing on the Great Wall

Mike just as cold on the Great Wall

Mave standing in front of spectacular jade junk and dragons

Very clean Subway system

Forbidden City

Tienemann Square where Mao is on display.  Can you see the people lined up at 8am?

Tourists climbing the Wall-very steep and was very cold this day

Mave and Mike in front of the Temple of Heaven.  My head is wrapped in a terry towel from our hotel
bathroom.

You have to see this place!!

There are lots more photos but I have to sort them out and resize them so that they download and open easily if readers wish to click on them and make them bigger.

Hasta luego mis amigos

The Holoidays on holiday

I promised another post so here goes...

Hi everyone,

It's late but I had a busy day so I'll try to add some more pictures of the Philippines and China.

I started the last blog talking about Sinulog so now I will try to add some photos from a very hot, awesome, tiring day watching from the security of a grandstand seat as drill team after drill team did their stuff on stage for the photographers and families of the participants-and there were thousands of participants in the parade.

praying to Pit Senyor outside with their candles

The Friday mass spilled out of the Basillica because there was no room inside

School girls taking rest in the Basillica courtyard

Sinulog queen candidate

Puppets with their puppetmasters

One of many drill teams representing towns and municipalities from Cebu
and neigbouring Islands

What fun these young fellows were having!

He behaved very well all day!

Another colourful drill team

Magellan's Cross

These are but a few of the many shots Mike took while immersed in the Sinulog celebrations.  A person really needs to go there to get a feel for the dedication these folks have for Pit Senyor.

Back on the road again soon.

Hola mis amigos,


Well, this blog is long overdue. 

Our last blog was posted before we went on our journey to the Philippines and China. What can I say? It was exciting, tiring, hot and humid, cold and windy; those are a few terms to describe our trip. But I wouldn't take it back for anything.

The main reason we went on this trip was to revisit the homeland of our sister-in-law. The second reason was to experience a one of a kind celebration-SINULOG-and experience it we did. I cannot describe the crowds, the noise, the colour, the devotion, the friendliness of this experience.

Home to the world's smallest monkeys

As you can see they are very small, but so cuddly looking

Those paws really help them cling to almost anything

Our mode of transportation on the Loboc river lunch cruise.

The Chocolate Hills, a natural phenomenon on Bohol

These are some photos of our trip to Letitica Resort and to the island of Bohol (in no apparent order, lol). 

main mode of transportation for 17 family members when we went on our first visit to Leticia RV resort

ok so it's spelled wrong

little jeepney taking family to the waterfalls from Leticia Resort

A very well behaved, quiet class from the school across the street from the resort

Mike and Mike went to the high school and found these girls practising a folk dance

The port on the island of Bohol

Our resort on Bohol, very nice, great sandy beach; little fishes there that will clean your feet, yummy.

Mike's order of a hamburger and fries; fries? yes philippino sized, lol.

These fellows are making machetes by hand.  Lots of labour involved



I hope you have enjoyed these little bits of the Philippines.  I have more but I'm still trying to resize them so that they are easy for you to click on and see them in a larger view.  I''ll get more out tomorrow, I promise.

I started this blog before we left Lo de Marcos and today is March 26 and we are in Ehrenberg, AZ, enjoying a few days here before moving on to Pahrump for a few more days.